Abu Dhabi Global Market was established pursuant to Abu Dhabi Law No. 4 of 2013 as a financial free zone in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with its own civil and commercial laws. ADGM will offer market participants a world-class legal system and regulatory regime.

Federal Legislation which established ADGM as a Financial Free Zone are:

UAE Constitution

An amendment was made to Article 121 of the UAE Constitution. This article deals with the division of powers between Federal and Emirati authorities and which allows the Federation to enact a Financial Free Zone Law. Once enacted, the Government of an Emirate is permitted to create a Financial Free Zone in that particular Emirate.

Federal Law No (8) of 2004

This Law allows a Financial Free Zone to be established in any Emirate of the UAE, by Federal Decree. Importantly, it exempts Financial Free Zones and Financial Activities from all Federal civil and commercial laws however UAE criminal law still applies.

ADGM published its first set of commercial rules & regulations that were enacted by its Board of Directors on 3 March 2015. Pursuant to section 12(1) the Interpretation Regulations, regulations in ADGM shall come into force (a) where a particular day is specified by or under the regulations, on the expiration of the previous day; or (b) where the date of commencement is the date of publication, on the expiration of the day on which the regulations are published. Accordingly, the Commercial regulations came into force on the expiration of the day of their respective publication.

The FSMR establishes the legislative and regulatory framework for financial services in ADGM. In particular, FSMR has been broadly modelled on the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA") and other related legislation.

As an international financial centre, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) recognises its responsibility to support the global efforts to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing. Under section 7(6) of the Financial Services and Markets Regulations 2015 (FSMR), the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) has jurisdiction for the detection, prevention and avoidance of these activities within the ADGM. The Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions (AML) Rulebook sets out the requirements which are imposed by the FSRA under section 7(6) of the FSMR.

In developing the AML Rulebook, the FSRA has had regarded for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision guidelines, published in 2014 and are intended to supplement the FATF Recommendations for banks. The U.A.E. criminal law also applies in the ADGM and, therefore, Persons in the ADGM must be aware of their obligations in respect of the criminal law as well as the rules which apply in the ADGM. Relevant U.A.E. criminal laws include Federal Law No. 4 of 2002 regarding the Criminalisation of Money Laundering, Federal Law No. 1 of 2004 regarding Combatting Terrorism Offences, Federal Law No. 7 of 2014, and the Penal Code of the United Arab Emirates. Accordingly, Relevant Persons must ensure that procedures comply with the requirement for Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), to be made in the required format to the Anti-Money Laundering Suspicious Cases Unit (AMLSCU), located in the Central Bank of the UAE.

The U.A.E., as a member of the United Nations, is required to comply with Sanctions issued and passed by the UNSC. These UNSC obligations apply in the ADGM and their importance is emphasised by specific obligations contained in the AML Rulebook requiring Relevant Persons to establish and maintain effective systems and controls to make appropriate use of UNSC Sanctions and resolutions. Relevant Persons are required to establish robust controls to monitor for, detect, and deter the flow of illicit funds through ADGM's financial system. The FSRA, in turn, plans to implement a responsive supervisory regime within the ADGM and to contribute to the global efforts by becoming actively engaged with other agencies, both domestic and international.